October 8, 2003
Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202/358-1979)
Keith Henry
Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.
(Phone: 757/864-6120)
Leslie Williams
Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif.
(Phone: 661/276-3893)
RELEASE: C03-ll
NASA SELECTS ALLIED TEAM TO PROVIDE HYPERSONIC VEHICLES
NASA has selected Allied Aerospace Industries of Tullahoma, Tenn., to
provide three flight-ready experimental demonstrator vehicles that
will fly approximately 5,000 miles per hour or seven times the speed
of sound. The multi-year project, called X-43C, will expand the
hypersonic flight envelope for air-breathing engines.
The cost-plus-fixed-fee completion type contract carries performance
incentives and is valued at nearly $150 million over 66 months. The
base activity covers all work through completion of the Preliminary
Design Review, and the optional effort covers the final design,
hardware fabrication and all associated support activities.
The X-43C is the next logical step, following the Hyper-X (X-43A),
vehicle that aims at demonstrating short duration scramjet powered
flight at Mach 7 and Mach 10. The X-43C will demonstrate free flight
of a scramjet-powered vehicle with acceleration capability from Mach
5 to Mach 7, as well as operation of a hydrocarbon fuel-cooled
scramjet.
NASA's Langley Research Center (LaRC), Hampton, Va. is leading a
combined U.S. Air Force/industry team in the design and development
of the X-43C demonstrator vehicle and its propulsion system. The
engine, which will be provided by the Air Force, will be a dual-mode
scramjet capable of running as a ramjet or scramjet.
Allied Aerospace, Flight Systems Division, will team with Pratt &
Whitney, West Palm Beach, Fla.; Boeing Phantom Works, Huntington
Beach, Calif.; and RJK Technologies, Blacksburg, Va.
Work will be performed primarily in Tullahoma and West Palm Beach.
Some contract work will also take place at Huntington Beach,
Blacksburg, St. Louis, LaRC and NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center
(DFRC), Edwards, Calif.
Future air-breathing space access vehicles offer advantages over
conventional rocket-powered vehicles that must carry all of the
oxidizer needed to burn their fuel. Air-breathing engine-powered
vehicles obtain oxygen from the atmosphere in flight. By minimizing
the need to carry oxidizer, smaller and more efficient vehicles can
be designed for space access missions.
'When fully developed, these advanced propulsion systems will offer
increased safety, payload capacity and economy of operation for
future, reusable space access vehicles," said Paul Moses, manager of
the X-43C project. "The X-43C project will validate advanced
technologies, design tools and test techniques that will enable
design of such vehicles in the future," he said.
For the three demonstration flights, a Pegasus-derived rocket booster
will be air-launched by a carrier aircraft to boost the X-43C
demonstrator vehicles to Mach 5 at approximately 80,000 feet. The
X-43C will separate from the booster and continue to accelerate to
Mach 7 under its own power and autonomous control.
Flights will originate from DFRC. Flight paths of the vehicles will be
over water within the Pacific Test Range.
For information about NASA on the Internet, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov
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